What a week to get into the Halloween spirit! Not only has DC finally released its highly anticipated new Etrigan comic, but Marvel dropped all three debut issues of its new Midnight line in one go! And I read them all! Spider-Man! Fantastic Four! X-Men! And yet…

Comic Book of the Week goes to The Demon #1 because I had the most fun with this debut issue. I know what I like.

Meanwhile, I hated everything about Ted Lasso season 4 and loved pretty much everything about Lanterns season 1. I finally finished the new Wolverine video game and I enjoyed it overall. I’m thinking of doing a review in a week or two. Now I need to find me a new game to sustain me until November 19…

Also, my Cover Bard comic book Kickstarter is oh so close to hitting its goal! As always, I invite anyone reading my reviews to check out my own comic because I am fully capable of putting my money where my mouth is. I can review other people’s comics and then write my own to be reviewed!

Comic Reviews: The Demon #1, Midnight Fantastic Four #1, Midnight Spider-Man #1, Midnight X-Men #1, Absolute Superman #24 and The Deadman #5.

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The Demon #1
Writer and Artist: James Harren
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

I’ve very much been looking forward to this new series. I’ve never been a big Etrigan fan, but this has been hailed as one of the real feather’s in the cap of DC’s already stellar current output.

Jason Blood is a magical hobo with amnesia who battles the demons lurking behind the veil in the big city, using his jacket of many knickknacks to banish them back to Hell. He resists the Demon Etrigan, even as the demon speaks to him all the time. Jason battles some demons, befriends a pack of traveling gnomes and fey folk fleeing the city, and then battles some more demons, this time involuntarily letting Etrigan out to play. Horror involving demons ensues.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

However decided to launch DC’s new horror-adjacent comic the same week as Marvel’s Midnight launch is a genius. The differences between The Demon #1 and all of the Midnight titles is that The Demon throws the reader right into the middle of tis mess and we’re all the better for it. Jason Blood is up to his eyeballs in demon problems, both internally and externally, and this first issue gives us a rich, meaty taste of all of it. I had a blast. We get action, we get character building, we get bad guys laid out before us; this first issue has everything a first issue should have, in my opinion.

This, especially.

Blood is a super fun main character. He’s always had that shock of white in his red hair, and now he’s got a silly white, dangling mustache over a big, bushy red beard. It’s a wonderful design choice that, I felt, instantly endeared me to this hobo version of the character. He’s so sloppy and yet so on the ball, and his demon fighting is a hoot. I also am beyond giddy with Jason’s new David the Gnome-esque friends. They just show up and bring so much charm with them. Brilliant madness. And then the bad guys are nicely fleshed out and given some interesting depth. Morgaine le Fey is a villain past her prime, while her coven nicely represent some of the horrors of the real world. Very interesting take on the antagonists that definitely works.

And the artwork is excellent. From Jason Blood’s hobo design to all the goopy, gruesome and silly demons and fey creatures, we’ve got a gorgeous looking comic on our hands.

TL;DR: This is an excellent first issue that drops us right into the madness to come, with a lot of fun silliness mixed in with the superhero action.

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Midnight Fantastic Four #1
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Kev Walker
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino

I haven’t been too hype for the Midnight books. I’m not a big horror fan to begin with, and they feel like a knee jerk response to DC’s success with their Absolute Comics. But Marvel dropped all three Midnight books in a single day, so let’s check them all out in alphabetical order!

Reed Richards is a young, easily distracted scientist who is kicked out of his research/teaching job at a prestigious New York science academy, only to sneak back in late at night to complete his experiment with a fancy portal. Reed gets distracted again and his research assistant, Victor, pays the price when the portal opens directly into him. Reed goes to prison, but billionaire scientist Sue Storm bails him out to come work for her at her compound. Horror involving eldritch monsters ensues.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Like Midnight Spider-Man below, the first issue of Midnight Fantastic Four is mostly set-up, to the issue’s larger detriment. It’s good set-up. I like everything I see here. I just feel like Marvel should have offered a bit more meat on these bones, considering how big and important this new Midnight line is supposed to be. Maybe I’m too biased toward the Absolute Comics at DC, but I was really hoping these Midnight books would grab me right away and drag me down into their depths. Instead, Midnight F4 just goes about its business introducing us to the new versions of its main characters, including the main four and Doctor Doom. We get our best look at Reed, and it’s solid set-up. I’ve got a good handle on who everybody is and their role in the story, and I really enjoyed the final page reveal/cliffhanger.

I guess I’m just a bit more interested in eldritch horror than body horror.

I like the artwork in this issue more than Midnight Spider-Man. This is more traditional comic book art, and it works for me. Nicely detailed. All the characters look good. I like all of the set-up we get. We don’t get to see whatever origin transforms this team into the Midnight Fantastic Four…or maybe it’s not even going there. We don’t yet know, and it’s a little disappointing that such a thing wasn’t in the first issue. But hey, maybe Marvel is going for decompression for the Midnight line. That’s their choice and we’ll see how it goes. Based on the first issues I’ve read so far, it’s mostly got me lukewarm about the whole thing, which is kind of where I was at before reading them. So we’ll see where all this goes.

TL;DR: It’s good, solid set-up, but this issue is still mostly set-up. Writing and art are excellent, but we’ll have to keep waiting for this comic to really kick off.

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Midnight Spider-Man #1
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Scietronc
Colorist: Neeraj Menon
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

I’m reading and reviewing all three new Midnight books! So let’s check out Spider-Man.

On his 18th birthday, Peter Parker is a college research assistant struggling to help his Uncle Ben make ends meet in a world that is seemingly run by megacorporations like Oscorp. The very sexy Felicia Hardy shows up to offer Peter a job at Oscorp and takes him to the main building to sign a contract. Uncle Ben tells Peter not to sign because something happened with the company that led to the death of his parents — also we’ve seen glimpses of some truly monstrous experiments being conducted on innocent people. But Peter signs the contract because they need the money. Horror involving spiders ensues.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This first issue features too much set-up and not enough juice for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good set-up. We get a solid read on this version of Peter Parker, who is pretty similar to most Peter Parkers. We get a good look at his life/work balance, his family, and the defining credo that he’s carried since a traumatic incident during his childhood, one about power making monsters instead of power and responsibility. We also get good looks at Uncle Ben, the horrors at Oscorp and several supporting characters, like Felicia Hardy. So it’s all fine set-up, I could have just used a lot more Spider-Man action. Peter’s encounter with this new, horror spider makes up the big cliffhanger ending, and while that works as a crazy cliffhanger ending, it leaves me wishing there was more.

This is why a lot of streaming TV shows drop two episodes at the premiere. Speaking of two…

The major selling point here, of course, is the horror, and I would say it mostly succeeds with that. Midnight Spider-Man is going for body horror, and the artwork readily rises to the challenge in delivering some grotesque stuff. It’s not a selling point for me, personally, so my needle wasn’t moved. But if you’re into that thing, I think this first issue delivers. The rest of the artwork also wasn’t really to my taste. Midnight Spider-Man is going for an anime-inspired look, or manga. I’m not an expert on either, nor am I the audience for such an art style, so it didn’t fully work for me. It’s the same reason I wasn’t that invested in Absolute Green Lantern. I also think the non-horror art was a little rough around the edges for such an important book launch.

But the simple fact is that I’m an old man and Marvel should be pursuing younger audiences, who like manga and horror.

TL;DR: A little too much set-up and not enough of what this comic will actually deliver for a first issue of a major launch. But it is good, solid set-up.

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Midnight X-Men #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Matteo Della Fonte
Colorist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I don’t know if I was really anticipating any of the Midnight books, but X-Men might have been the one I was looking forward to the most because I like the X-Men.

So, like, sometime in the past, a bunch of different X-Men and other mutants got turned into vampires, and they’re called ’empyres’ for ‘mutant vampires.’ And now there are different factions of empyres, as well as normal mutants, who are also in different factions. Nightcrawler is a bishop. Cyclops is a badass empyre slayer. Hope shows up. And then just a whole bunch of other characters show up. Horror involving empyres ensues.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Midnight X-Men was easily my favorite of the three because, unlike Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, X-Men throws us right into the mix of all this vampire tomfoolery. Of course, it suffers a little in the set-up. There’s, like, a dozen different mutants in this issue, all on various sides, and there’s talk of war and peace and houses and old and new alliances, and I can’t say I’ve come out of the issue fully understanding who is on whose side and who isn’t. It seems like the classic X-Men existed at one point, so this isn’t an entirely fresh world rebuilt from the ground up. But it’s not made entirely clear who is on whose side in the war they keep talking about. But we get enough lore to keep me satisfied, while delivering a ton of action and horror and badassery. Cyclops is rocking that shaved head and beard.

Basically, this comic is the classic X-Men infested with vampires to varying degrees. Like, what if we gave the writer full use of the entire X-Men franchise and he just figured out his own vampire storyline. And it worked for me. Hickman fills the issue with cool moments and great pacing. He knows when to let a page or a panel breathe. He sets up interesting moments and then pays them off wonderfully. He includes minor characters, like Glob Herman and Magma, while giving the main X-Men some great moments. Bishop Nightcrawler is a damn fine character. Empyre Storm is very threatening. And, like I said, Cyclops could nar about steal this whole thing. The artwork by Della Fonte is breathtakingly perfect. He’s got a very real world-style look, like a better Greg Land. It fits perfectly with the violence and characters at hand.

TL;DR: Writing, art and concept all come together nicely for what is essentially an extensive What If…the X-Men were also vampires.

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Shorter Reviews

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Absolute Superman #24 by Jason Aaron, Juan Ferreyra and Becca Carey

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is just a fun little stand alone issue that firmly establishes Absolute Steel going forward, and that sounds good to me. Superman could use a friend in the superhero biz. Steel and Supes also take on Absolute versions of Bloodsport, Atomic Skull and Chemo, all of whom get great designs and great little stories. It definitely seems like we’re going to get something big for the 25th issue, and this issue makes sure to get Steel in place for whatever is going to happen. The art is gorgeous, the writing is solid and the characterization is off the charts. So yeah, just a fun little issue that sets up Steel going forward.

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The Deadman #5 by W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran and Good Old Neon

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This was a weird chapter of the story, but definitely not disliked. I’m sure people smarter than me would better understand how it fits in the ongoing narrative. For me, it’s just a fun little story where Boston goes on a pretty normal adventure in a pretty weird alternate future. He gets a glimpse of what’s going to happen if the bad guy wins. And the artwork remains something truly spectacular. Maybe Prince was worried he wouldn’t get a lot of issues to tell his story, so he came up with this really crazy chapter that he wanted to explore and threw it in. Whatever the case may be, it’s another really nifty chapter in this really nifty series.

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The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I grab from Comixology any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments.

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